(6 Jul 2012) Libyans living in the United States were on Friday taking part in their home country's first national election since the toppling and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi last year.
Voters gathered at the only polling location set up in the US by the transitional Libyan government - a conference room at the Holiday Inn Hotel in the northern Virginia town of Arlington.
Voters were able to cast their ballots to elect a 200-member transitional parliament from among the more than 3,700 candidates who are currently running.
"These people are going to draft a constitution for us, so it means so much," said Hassan Imhmed, who drove from New Hampshire to Virginia to vote.
Omran Ehmoda, another Libyan now residing in New Hampshire, said the election was a reminder of what Libyan rebels had sacrificed in the fight against Gadhafi's forces.
"A lot of people are now disabled for Libyans to vote and get to this moment," said Ehmoda.
The Saturday election caps a messy nine-month transition after a ruinous 2011 civil war that ended in October with the death of Gadhafi, whose four-decade rule left the country deeply divided along regional, tribal and ideological lines.
The parliament will elect a new transitional government to replace the one appointed by the National Transitional Council that led the rebel side during the eight-month war and held power in its aftermath.
"After 42 years, we have the first time we are voting. That's the great feeling about it," said Ahmed Benhusen, who now lives in Springfield, Virginia.
"This is a good step, a first step - the right step towards all Libyans getting their freedom from the rule of one person," Benhusen said after casting his ballot.
Some 2.8 (m) million voters in Libya, out of more than three million eligible, have registered for the polls.
The main contenders are the Muslim Brotherhood (Islamists), Al-Watan (salafis and other Islamists), Alliance of National Forces (secular), National Front (veteran opposition to Gadhafi), and National Centrist (led by former Finance Minister Ali Tarhouni).
New parliamentary elections are to be held in 2013, after the constitution is drafted and approved in a referendum.
Observers expect that no party is likely to win an outright majority and the shape of the final government will likely depend on post-election alliances.
Voting in Libya is scheduled to begin on Saturday.
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